The present invention relates to a shield processing structure for a flat shielded cable for connecting a shield cover member of a flat shielded cable and a grounding wire, as well as a method of shield processing thereof.
As shown in FIG. 26, a flat shielded cable 100 is comprised of two shielded cores 103 in which cores 101 are respectively covered with insulating inner jackets 102 and which are arranged in parallel; a conductive shield cover member 104 which covers the outer peripheries of the two shielded cores 103 and has a grounding wire-use contact portion 104a provided on the outer side in the direction in which the two shielded cores 103 are juxtaposed; a drain wire 105 disposed inside the grounding wire-use contact portion 104a; and an insulating outer jacket 106 for further covering the outer periphery of the shield cover member 104. As a conventional shield processing structure for the flat shielded cable 100 thus constructed, one disclosed in JP-A-2000-21249 shown in FIG. 27 is known.
In the shield processing structure in FIG. 27, the insulating outer jacket 106 in the vicinity of the end portion of the flat shielded cable 100 and the shield cover member 104 excluding the portion of the grounding wire-use contact portion 104a are peeled off to thereby expose the two shielded cores 103. Further, insulation displacement terminals 110a are respectively subjected to insulation displacement connection to the two shielded cores 103 so as to effect terminal processing of signal conductors, and an insulation displacement terminal 110b, to which a grounding wire is connected, is subjected to insulation displacement connection to the drain wire 105 and the shield cover member 104 so as to effect shield processing.
However, with the above-described conventional shield processing structure, it is necessary to effect the operation of removing the jacket of the terminal of the flat shielded cable 100, and the jacket removal involves only the portions of the two shielded cores 103, and the jacket removal is not effected with respect to the portion of the grounding wire-use contact portion 104a of the shield cover member 104. Hence, there are problems in that the jacket removal is very troublesome and that it requires a technique of high precision.
Accordingly, the invention has been devised to overcome the above-described problems, and its object is to provide a shield processing structure for a flat shielded cable which makes it unnecessary to effect the jacket removal operation itself and makes it possible to effect shield processing easily in a simple process, as well as a method of shield processing thereof.
In order to solve the aforesaid object, the invention is characterized by having the following arrangement. Aspect 1 A structure for processing a flat shielded cable comprising:
A first aspect of the invention is a structure for processing a flat shielded cable, the includes the flat shielded cable, with a plurality of shielded cores, each including a core covered with an insulating inner jacket, a conductive shield cover member which covers outer peripheries of the plurality of shielded cores and has a grounding wire-use contact portion, and an insulating outer jacket for covering an outer periphery of the shielded cover member. The structure also includes a ground wire; a pair of resin members including joining surfaces and recesses,respectively, wherein the joining surface of the resin members are abutted against each other, the recesses form a hole substantially corresponding to an outer shape of a part of the flat shielded cable; and an ultrasonic generator for generating ultrasonic vibration. The ultrasonic vibration generated by the ultrasonic generator is applied to at least one of the pair of resin members which clamps and compress at least a part of the flat shielded cable in a state that the ground wire is interposed between the flat shielded cable and one of the resin members, so that at least the insulating outer jacket is melted and scattered and a contact portion connecting a conductor of the grounding wire and the grounding wire-use contact portion is formed.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the plurality of shielded cores are arranged side by side.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the hole formed by the recesses substantially corresponds to an outer shape of the shielded cores.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the pair of resin members clamp the flat shielded cable, the of resin members do not contact a portion of the flat shielded cable located on an outer side of the grounding wire-use contact portion.
According to the fifth aspect of the invention, a drain wire is disposed inside the grounding wire-use contact portion.
According to the sixth aspect of the invention, in the respective joining surfaces of the pair of resin members, portions where both the grounding ire-use contact portion and the grounding wire are disposed are formed as flat surfaces for pressing the ground wire-use contact portion and the grounding wire with the respective joining surface abutting against each other.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, inner peripheral surfaces of the recesses of the pair of resin members are formed as tapered surfaces such that the diameter of each of the inner peripheral surfaces on an exit side of the flat shielded cable is gradually enlarged from an inner side toward an outer side.
According to the eighth aspect of the invention, in the respective joining surfaces of the pair of resin members on an exit side of the grounding wire, grounding wire-accommodating grooves are respectively provided so that a hole whose diameter is larger than a diameter of the grounding wire is formed with the joining surfaces abutting against each other, and inner peripheral surfaces of the grounding wire-accommodating grooves are formed as tapered surfaces such that the diameter of each the inner peripheral surfaces on an exit side of the grounding wire is gradually enlarged from an inner side toward an outer side.
According to a ninth aspect of the invention, the structure also includes a positional-offset preventing projection formed on one of the pair of resin members; and a positional-offset preventing groove formed on another of the pair of resin members; wherein the positional-offset preventing projection and positional-offset preventing groove are formed at portions of the joining surfaces of the pair of resin members with which the flat shielded cable does not contact in a state when the flat shielded cable is clamped; wherein a position of the positional-offset preventing projection corresponds to an opposing position of the positional-offset preventing groove; and wherein the positional-offset preventing projection engages the positional-offset preventing groove in a state when the flat shielded cable is clamped by the pair of resin members.
According to a tenth aspect of the invention, the ground wire is arranged substantially parallel to the shielded cores such that one end portion of the ground wire is interposed between the adjacent shielded cores.
According to an eleventh aspect of the invention, the shielding covering member has a two-layer structure, and comprises an electrically-insulative foil-reinforcing sheet as an inner layer, and an electrically-conductive metal foil as an outer layer.
According to a twelfth aspect of the invention, the foil-reinforcing sheet is a polyester sheet.
The thirteenth aspect of the invention, is a method of processing a flat shielded cable which includes a plurality of shielded cores, each including a core covered with an insulating inner jacket, a conductive shield cover member which covers outer peripheries of the plurality of shielded cores and has a grounding wire-use contact portion, and an insulating outer jacket for covering an outer periphery of the shielded cover member, and a ground wire by a pair of resin members. The method includes the steps of: clamping the flat shielded cable between the pair of resin members; interposing the ground wire between the flat shielded cable and the resin member; and applying ultrasonic vibration across the pair of resin members so that at least the insulating outer jacket is melted and scattered, and a conductor of the grounding wire and the grounding wire-use contact portion are electrically brought into contact with each other.
According to a fourteenth aspect of the invention, in the clamping step, the pair of resin members compress shielded cable.
According to a fifteenth aspect of the invention, the pair of resin members clamp the flat shielded cable, the pair of resin members do not come into contact with a portion located on an outer side of each of the shielded cores but come into contact with a portion located on an outer side of the grounding wire-use contact portion.